The chronicle of a family thriving in the middle of a nightmare. You'll laugh a lot more than you expect. Promise.

Wednesday, May 13, 2009

Late Night Comedy Show

Better than Conan, cuter than Leno, with better hair than Jimmy Fallon...It's the comedy stylings of Simon Fitch-Jenett after dark!!

Holy crap dude.Simon was up until 11:10 last night (and that's just the time that I laid him down wide awake but at least quiet)He was in rare form and we're not quite sure why.The one reason we can think of is actually a great story to tell.

Simon had an amazing dinner time with us. He ate more than he's ever eaten and there was a marked decrease in his gagging and throwing up. He even opened his mouth and moved towards food that was being held a couple of inches away. It was a beautiful thing!!!One of the new things he was enjoying were these Gerber food yogurt melts ("freeze dried whipped yogurt"). Total crap (the 2nd ingredient is sugar) but they melt quickly and he was enjoying them in a way that he hadn't other things. I think the sensation of it melting so quickly was 'safe' for him.

So Jaime puts Simon down for bed around 8:00 and at 9:00 we can still hear him talking to himself in the bedroom. He seems quite content so we just let him keep squawking thinking that he'll put himself to sleep eventually like he'll often do.At 10:00 as we're getting ready for bed we finally hear quite and head into the bedroom. Simon is standing in his crib eyes wide open and just two steps into the room he greets me with a smile rich "Hiiiiii".Jaime's on round one. She gets him quite again and lays him down. We brush teeth and get ready for bed. 20 minutes later we are lying down and thinking that it's late but not the latest that we've ever been up with Mr. Shimmy.Another few minutes of hearing him rustle around in his bed and finally stillness. Then 30 seconds later I turn over feeling something not quite right.There he is again. Standing up looking at us in the dark....pausing for dramatic effect before issuing forth a resounding "Hi" followed by an immediate "buh bwaaa bwaaa bye biiiiiiiyye bye".Jaime and I cannot help but start laughing which of course only feeds his inner performer.I take him out of bed and we settle into the rocking chair for what has been the "big gun" for sleep in the past. Essentially starting the bedtime ritual over again with an elongated James Taylor 'You can close your eyes'.He's not having it. In between each verse he chimes in with a tirade of "bah bah shveeeshveeee bwaaaaa buh byeeee byeeeee".(Little shit won't ever say bye bye to people in the moment but will say it over and over again now that it's close to 11pm at night. What the hell is going on?)This goes on for another 20 minutes and he finally stops babbling and mellows out some. Jaime has also stopped shaking the bed with her silent laughter and I think 'ok, maybe now he'll fall asleep and we can be done for the night. I get up from the rocker and take the three steps over to the crib and as I lay him down he turns to me (a little exorcist like) and with eyes wide open, smiles at me and whispers short sweet "hi" and turn himself back over. I hear rustling for a little while longer but then he seems to settle into some kind of stillness.

What?!! Jaime and I can only come up with one reason for the evening.The sugar.I know that he probably only ingested 2+ but it could happen right?Simon could have had his first sugar high.I think that AND he's really starting to show us that he has a sense of humor are why we had such a night. Hopefully tonight will be a little more about sleep than shenanigans.So far he's been asleep since 8:15 and it's now 10:02Please, no more late night comedy.Mommy needs to rest.

2 comments:

LOL. There once was a little kid named Laura who lost her mind on sugar. I remember distinctly hysterical laughter of the red cheeked-can't breathe variety, followed immediately by deep sobbing caused by some small but evil act perpetrated on her by yours truly.Also, Maya is crazy on sugar too.

About Us

Team Shimmy was started the day our baby, Simon (aka Shimmy), became suddenly ill (8/1/08) with a rare heart condition called Cardiomyopathy. That day, friends and family rallied around us to form Team Shimmy. This team, which has grown to include new friends and strangers from all corners of the world, has sustained us with love, food, kind words and listening ears.
We spent 4 tumultuous months in the ICU at Children's Hospital Oakland. Simon has been steadily improving since that day. He was fed through a tube in his belly (a Mic-key) until December 2013, was diagnosed on the autism spectrum, receives various types of therapies and is still on meds. Oh, and he's the happiest, most engaging kid we've ever seen. Jaime (Mama) works in public health and Laura (Mommy), a former school social worker, stays home to take care of Simon (and to take him to his MANY appointments). To see a 10-min documentary about our family, go to www.youtube.com/watch?v=uGh8dFp2oqk.
This blog is a chronicle of our experience thriving in the middle of a nightmare. You'll laugh a lot more than you expect. Promise.
Contact us at lafitch@gmail.com or jaimejenett@gmail.com